Damascus, July 1 (IANS) The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now calling itself Islamic State, Tuesday captured an eastern Syrian town bordering Iraq after days of intense clashes with rival jihadist groups.
The ISIS, an Al Qaeda splinter group, Tuesday captured the Bukamal town in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour after “intense” battles with the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, Xinhua reported citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London- based watchdog.
The ISIS has started advancing towards the town of al-Shahel, the stronghold of the Nusra Front, in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, the observatory said.
The Nusra Front and the ISIS have been deadlocked since earlier this year.
The battles among rebels in the country have claimed the lives of more than 7,000 insergents and civilians since the beginning of 2014 in in northern and eastern Syria, according to the Observatory.
The two rebel groups have been extensively fighting recently over the Bukamal, due to its strategic location on the borders with Iraq and its oil fields. The town fell to the ISIS after jihadist groups that originally fought for the Nusra Front switched sides to the ISIS.
The new victory of the ISIS come just a couple of days after the organisation declared the establishment of an Islamic State in areas under their control in Syria and Iraq.
As the ISIS is now growing more resourceful, observers believe that the infighting between this Al Qaeda splinter group and other jihadist groups would escalate.